Against Medical Advice
by ebonygrayqueen
Summary: The team is lead to a town in California where two RN's have been murdered, the un-sub has a knowledge of the body that leads the team to suspect a medical background. can they catch the killer before another Nurse or patient becomes a victim? please R/R
1. Chapter 1

**Sadly I cannot claim ownership of this wonderful TV show or any of the characters on it, to which I am addicted. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Please review, and enjoy =)**

It was the perfect crime; no evidence in any way shape or form was left behind. Just a pristine body, the medical examiners should appreciate all that he had done for them. Everything was cut into so nicely. So evenly, it was a work of art. And it was his gift to her. The one who saved his life. He hadn't contacted her other then the other gift like this one, since that fateful night when he had met the woman of his dreams, but he would soon. Soon she would know all that he had done for her, for them.

Reid sat opposite Morgan deeply involved in the chess game before them. Studying the board with a pretended board expression, Reid was using this game as a warm up before he took on Gideon again. Morgan just stared at him and grew impatient.

"Its only a game if you actually move one of the pieces every now and again." Morgan reminded him

Reid raised an eyebrow, but refused to take his eyes off of the game. Then with a slow practiced gesture, he advanced his night forward two and to the left one. "Technically this could be considered not a game, but a training exercise. We are trying to get into each other's minds, to see what the other is going to do, predict their move. Much like we do when we are chasing a certain type of un-sub."

JJ looked over the file she was reading and eyed the two other agents. She was comfortably stretched out on the couch opposite them in the small cabin of the airplane. "Is that the new excuse for playing chess instead of reviewing the case files." When Morgan glanced at her she smiled, "just making sure I am keeping up on the current theory." Retiring to her file she laughed silently to herself as Morgan finally looked back to the game board.

"Hey when did you move?" Morgan demanded

Reid finally looked up from the board, a innocent smirk on his young face. "Sorry, I forgot to say 'Check Mate'". The smirk evolved into a cat that ate the canary grin, which Morgan ignored as he check the game board from another angle.

"Since the game is over, lets review shall we?" Hotch commented as he walked back to the agents, followed by Prentiss and Gideon. The later two settled down on the couch next to JJ who moved her feet for them. Then all focused their attention on Hotch and the screen behind him. He waited a token beat before clicking the hand held remote to the slide of his choice. It displayed a murder scene that was simple yet confusing. There was a single body, laying supine with a 'Y' shaped incision going down their chest, much the same way that a body would look after a medical examination by the coroner.

"This was Amy Stuts, she was a RN at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks California." The screen clicked over to another body, positioned the same, and with the same incisions, "and this was Lela Egan. Also a RN at Los Robles. There was absolutely no evidence left at either crime scene. And the local police were a little overwhelmed. This isn't exactly the kind of place murders like this happen. They were rated the #1 safe city in California."

"Do they have any leads?" Morgan asked, happy for the excuse to ignore the lost chess game.

Hotch was silent for a moment before settling down on the end of the counter behind him. "The local police are looking into everything as we speak, so far other then where they work there isn't really a connection, its not that small of a town, but small enough that people still know their neighbors."

"There is another work connection, both of them were involved in a case at the hospital where a nurse has come up for disciplinary actions. The nurse did something outside of her range of practice and may have saved a patients life, but the hospital is viewing it as she went around the rules. Both of these nurses were called as witnesses, and both went against her, a Valerie Kent." JJ read out of her file. "Valerie has yet to account for her whereabouts at the time of the murders."

"Just going from the crime scene photos it would have to be someone who has a knowledge of the body. They managed to miss all the major arteries or else there would be some arterial splash on the walls. But in the photos there is nothing like that." Reid said as he studied the now side by side pictures of the crime scenes.

"What else if anything do we know about Valerie Kent?" Morgan asked as he flipped through his own file of the cases.

JJ flipped open her phone and smiled at him, "all it takes in a phone call and we will know whatever we need to. Garcia? Can you do a full background check for us on a Valerie Kent from Thousand Oaks California?" she was silent for a moment nodding to the phone then smiled, "great just send us when you get it." With a flourish she flipped the phone shut and turned to Morgan, "we should have all we need to know in a few hours, just in time to land."

Instead of landing at the ever crowded LAX, the team arrived at the smaller Camarillo airport, that was a much shorter, and kinder drive to Thousand Oaks. They were met on the ground by the anxious sheriff who introduced himself as Sheriff Wilson. He was a balding man in his late forties, whose belt was doing all it could to keep up his slightly bulging pants. But he greeted them with a smile and much thanks. "This isn't the kind of thing that's supposed to happen in a town like this. We are the kind of town where neighbors still patch up each others kids."

Hotch nodded to the Sheriff, and replied "we will do all that we can. Perhaps we should move on to the station so that we can set up and look over everything. Reid, Morgan, head over to the hospital and interview Valerie Kent. We need to assess her for ourselves, and see if she fits into the profile we are making."

The team split up heading in two directions, Reid and Morgan to the hospital and the rest of the team to the sheriff's station. JJ was already tackling into media problems on her phone on the drive there, and was only too happy to accept the help of several officers at her disposal.

The hospital was set off the freeway a few miles in a quite neighborhood, just down the street from the high school, and near several medical office buildings. From the outside it was a quite, peaceful building that hadn't yet followed with the trend of harsh angles now so popular with the modern buildings. It was subtler in its beauty. The inside however was in a panic. The staff was upset about the loss of another of its nurses and now they were short handed. Nurses traveled up and down the halls with a sense of urgency about them few even bothered to look up at the two men moving among them. Finally they located the check in desk and waited to catch the attention of the nurse on staff.

When she glanced at them it was an assessing glance, that saw more then she pretended. With a false smile she focused on them, "may I help you?"

Morgan regarded her for a moment before proceeding, "agents Reid, and Morgan with the FBI Behavioral Analyst Unit. We are here looking for a Valerie Kent. Is she here today?"

The nurse regarded their badges for a moment before glancing at a sheet in front of her, "Kent… Kent… she is working in ER, down that hall and through the double doors, then to your left. Ask the person at the desk to point her out, but just a heads up. They are short in the ER today."

Morgan thanked her and turned to follow her directions. Reid caught up with him a step later, "think she needed to tell us they are short?"

With a knowing smile Morgan answered, "Nurses are always short, at least in the patience department."

Reid studied him for a moment, "I though being patient was one of the qualities of a nurse."

"Not when they are short staffed it isn't."

They found the desk in question and waited again for the nurse to glance at them. She was not short, she was actually close to 5'10, but not slender enough for Morgan to consider attractive. Her smiley-faced scrubs made her look more like she should be working in the children's wing then in the ER. When she did look up she gave them a half smile, "can I help you?"

"Agents Reid and-"

"Yeah I know, I got the heads up, I am Valerie Kent, how can I help you?"

Reid and Morgan exchanged a quick look before Morgan took the lead. "Is there anywhere that we can talk that would be more private?"

Val, as she preferred to be called, lead them to the staff room, and poured each of them a cup of coffee before checking the pot and starting a fresh one. She gave them a half smile and indicated that they take a seat. Reid sat, Morgan stood untouched cup of coffee in one hand. There had not been enough coffee in the pot for a cup for her, so Val simply eyed theirs and tried not to look too desperate.

"Is there anything that you want to tell us?" Morgan asked as he took a slow sensual sip of the coffee, it was actually good; with a raised eyebrow he asked the questions 'how'.

With a genuine smile Val explained the secret to their coffee, "we put saltine crackers on top of the coffee grinds, it brings out more flavor. Staff secret. I could get killed for telling it to you, so don't tell anyone you heard it from me."

Reid eyed her before taking a small tasting sip of his own cup, and then stared at the cup in wonder, it was fantastic.

"We really aren't here to discuss the coffee, you know that." Morgan asked, he was determined not to be swayed even if the coffee was the best he had in a long time.

She nodded slowly, "you're here about Amy and Lela? Have you caught the person responsible for it yet? Amy's mom was hear earlier today to clean out her locker," Val looked to her left to the long line of lockers along the wall, when she looked back there were tears in her eyes.

Morgan was unimpressed by her tears and pushed on, "we were hoping you could tell us about your disciplinary actions case, what happened?"

Val blinked a few times before focusing on them, "isn't that a state board issue? If I have a federal notch against me I will loose my license, what is the FBI doing investigating this anyway?"

"Just let us be the judge of what is an federal issue and what isn't please. Explain what happened." Morgan said dryly.

Val studied him through narrowed eyes for a moment before focusing on the more likable Reid. "It was three weeks ago, a really slow night, the kind that you wish would happen all the time, everyone was having fun-do you really need to know this?"

"Everything that you can remember about the night would give us a better idea of exactly what happened." Reid said after taking another sip of coffee and eyeing the brewing pot expectantly.

After a sigh, Val crossed her arms and continued. "The CNA's were having wheel chair raises down the hall way, a few of the nurses had opted to take a nap. I was walking a patient from the cancer wing, Mr. Jefferies, he can never sleep through the night so a walk around the ER usually gets him tired enough to fall asleep. He went home the night after everything happened. Sweet old man. Cant tell you what he has though HIPPA violation, sorry.

"Mr. Jefferies and I were just passing the nurses station when a man came stumbling into the ER, he looked like hell, tall, but not healthy, thin-with stringy black hair that looked like it needed a wash. I know it sounds odd, but he looked kinda familiar, I just don't know where from. He took a look around the area then came strait at me, there several other nursing staff hanging out, but he came right up to me, grabbed my arm and just stared at me for minuet. I froze; I thought he had a gun or something. Then he just collapsed, I kind of half caught his body with mine so his head didn't hit the floor, and yelled for a CNA to take care of Mr. Jefferies, the guy had just passed out on the floor. I started doing the ABC's on him, airway, breathing, cardiovascular, and he wasn't breathing. So I yelled for a few other nurses and we got him on a gurney and into a room, we paged the doctor on call several times. And never got a response. I did a manual check of his airway-nothing obstructing it, we had a bag on him, but there was no air getting into his lungs. His fingertips and lips were going cyanotic. There is only a 4-6 min window before permanent brain damage so we had to do something. We paged the MD again, no answer, it was now 3 mins, and his O2 sat was only 89% so I intubated him. I had seen it done a dozen or so times, and read the procedure more times then I care to count. Just as I was attaching the bag, Dr. Stone showed up.

"He took over, ordering us out of the way, and demanding to know who had done it. I was asked to leave the room, and finish my reports for the night and go home. I was suspended while they performed their little investigation. And they determined that I had saved his life, but that I had acted beyond my scope of practice. So I was supposed to be suspended, but we are so short staffed, that they brought me back."

The two agents were silent for a moment. Val check on the coffee, refilled their glasses before pouring one for herself and settling back against the counter.

"That's quite a story." Morgan commented after a sip from his cup. "You have to understand how odd it sounds for a RN to suddenly be able to perform such a high skill procedure."

"Its not that high," Val said defensively to her coffee cup, "med students can do it."

"Med students who have had the training sure." Reid said then looked down when Val shot a glare at him.

Morgan heaved a huge sigh, taking the attention away from Reid. "Miss Kent you have to understand how all this looks to us right? You have a bad night, the other two nurses on shift suddenly come up murdered. That doesn't exactly paint you in the best light."

Val stared at them for a moment, jaw ajar, "you think I did that? You think that I could of-to my friends? Done that! What is the matter with you people!" She began pacing back and forth, her arms wrapped around herself, coffee cup on the counter, she didn't look at them, couldn't bring her self to admit that they were in the room.

Reid gave Morgan a questioning look which was ignored. When Morgan's phone range it was a welcome breach of the silence. "Morgan here." He was silent nodding for a few moments then said, "yes we just spoke with her," a few more moments of silence then he closed the phone and slid it back into his pocket. When he turned to Val she was facing them, arms still crossed, eyes bright with anger. "I have been asked to bring you with us to the Sheriff's station. You are not being charged with anything yet, this wont go on your record as long as you cooperate with us."

In a brave effort Val clenched her jaw to keep it from trembling and nodded. She pointed to the second locker from the end and asked Reid, "Could you please get my sweater the combo is 11-30-81."

Reid rose and went to the indicated locker, but Morgan blocked him and opened it, gun in hand he checked the locker and retrieved the needed sweater, which he threw to her. Val caught the sweater and said blankly "thank you." Pulling the sweater over her head, and hiding her smile faces scrubs, she followed Morgan out of the room and out of the hospital.


	2. Chapter 2

He remembered this man. This had been the man who had stood over him while in was in the hospital bed, and tried to tell him that a law suite wasn't necessary. Like he could sue the woman he loved for saving his life? This man had to pay, he hadn't liked the way that he spoke of his lovely nurse. This man hadn't appreciated her the way he should have. But he would appreciate her, he would love her, he would take care of her just like she had taken care of him.

Garcia scanned the screen in front of her and began reciting off useful information to the team on the other end of the phone. "Valerie Kent, aka Val. She got her LVN in 2001, and then went strait into the BSN bridge program, and graduated in the end 2003, took the state boards and got her license at the beginning of 2004. She was the top of her class for LVN, and third highest for her BSN. It looks like she lives in Westlake, and visits her parents and brother often. She is active with the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. Doesn't look like she has much of a social life. She doesn't seem to get out a whole lot… No criminal record of any kind, juvenile or adult. Other then that one mark on her nursing record she is clean as a baby's bottom. And the tip hot line is up, and calls are coming in."

Hotch, Gideon, Prentice, JJ, Reid and Morgan sat around the phone. With a nod to JJ Hotch said, "Thank you Garcia, if anything else comes up, keep us informed." JJ hit the switch on the phone and the team fell silent.

"Criminal record or not, I think she's our un-sub." Morgan said into the silence that followed the phone call. "We haven't been able to find this mystery patient that was a part of that case anyway, all of the information that was in his file was a fake, for all we know he was a phony-she hired him to fake it so that she could play the hero. When it backfired she couldn't handle it, and it became her stressor that set her off. We haven't been able to confirm her alibi."

"No but we haven't been able to find anything else connecting her to the murders either." Prentice pointed out.

Hotch regarded his agents for a moment. "I think we all need to take the rest of the night off, we are a little to stressed out right now, and spread thin. We can question the suspect in the morning."

"I want a crack at her tonight, if that's all right with you." When Morgan's statement was met with silence he challenged everyone in the room with his eyes. No one said anything. "I feel fine, I don't need a break."

Gideon studied him for a moment then nodded, "I can stay to observe. The rest of you go on to the hotel and get some sleep, we will meet you here first thing in the morning."

"I wouldn't mind-" Reid began.

"Go on Reid, I will be fine." Morgan insisted.

With a final searching look at his friend Reid followed the rest of their group to the waiting SUV's and went to the hotel.

Gideon turned to Morgan, "you want me in there with you? Or are you ok to do this on your own."

Morgan was silent for a moment before answering in a tight voice, "this lady killed two of her coworkers, one of them was her classmate from LVN school. I will have no problem going all night with her."

"We don't know this for sure Morgan, she doesn't fit the full profile. We assumed it would be a male-"

"Who has through knowledge of the anatomy, and would have access to surgical instruments, I think a nurse also fits that description." Morgan insisted.

With an assessing look Gideon nodded and lead Morgan to the interrogation room. The older agent still didn't look convinced as Morgan entered the room with the still agitated nurse, but he held his tongue and settled in to watch the taping interrogation through the one way glass.

Morgan circled Val, much like a lion looking for a good angle to attack. She studied him with wary eyes.

"I was under the impression that nurses were supposed to set a good example for their patients." Morgan said as though just voicing a thought off his head, nothing important. Nothing that needed to be answered.

Val glared at him, "Dr. Stone said something like that to me the other day, he said that he didn't think it was appropriate for nurses scrubs to come in any other size then extra small. You would like him, he's an ass hole too."

Morgan kept talking as though she hadn't said anything. "I mean nurses are the ones who are always in the room telling the patients what to do to stay healthy, so wouldn't a patient listen better if the nurse doing the teaching was healthy themselves?" he paced around the room again, not looking at her, seeming to just enjoy the walk.

"Ass hole." Val muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Morgan said, leaning over her.

"Don't push her to far Morgan." Gideon whispered to himself on the other side of the glass.

She turned to face him, and gave him a falsely sweet smile, "you heard me, a-s-s h-o-l-e. That's what you are being, but I don't believe this is how you normally behave. So it must be something about me."

"OOhooo so now your going to analyze me is that how this goes?" Morgan said taking a step back and pretending to be insulted.

Val studied him, her eyes had black rings under them from lack of sleep, he wondered why he hadn't noticed that before. "I would never presume to be able to analyze someone after such a short time frame, I was instead referring to the way your team seems to care for you. If you were a jerk off all the time, I don't think they would give a rat's ass about you. But since them seem to care for you-though I may not personally understand it at this time-you must be putting on an act to scare me." She studied him for a moment, letting the silence lengthen. "And just an FYI for you, nurses are people too, we have weaknesses just like you do. Mine just happens to be for a double-double animal style with a strawberry shake."

Morgan studied her for a moment before circling around searching for another angle to push her from. "We still haven't been able to find that patient whose life you saved. Any ideas?"

Val braced her head on her hands, elbows on the table. The room was cold enough to make her want more then just her sweater; scrubs didn't offer much warmth. "I didn't take care of the paper work, remember I was sent home? I did my documentation, but I wasn't there when he filled out his paper work. He passed out before he had a chance to say a word."

"So none of this is your fault? He just shows up and you become the hero. A little to easy isn't it?" Morgan flipped the other chair in the room, and straddled it, his arms crossed before him. He stared at her on an eye to eye level. "Nursing wasn't enough for you anymore? You had to want to play doctor? Isn't that what all nurses are really, don't they just want to be doctors? What you couldn't hack it in real school?"

When she looked up, her movement was slow and seemed to be taking a lot of effort. Her voice was gravely and sleep deepened. "Not everyone does it for the pay check, or the pristine." She turned away from him and closed her eyes. She refused to cry in front of him, but she was tired, so tired.

Morgan watched her for a few more minuets before standing up, "maybe a night in here is what you really want. I am here if you want to talk, so you better talk now."

Eyes still closed she answered, "I just worked a double shift, 24 hours. I had four hours of sleep between that and my last 12 hour shift." She turned to regard him, "I lost two of my friends, and haven't had a chance to grieve yet because the patients need me. I am tired. Please leave me alone."

Gideon tapped on the glass, and waited for Morgan to enter the room. "we are done for the night. She needs sleep, and so do we. If she is the un-sub, at least the streets are safe for the night."

Morgan stared at the other officer for a few moments, then looked away, and nodded. "I just-ahh." Morgan nodded again, and followed Gideon out of the room. In the other room and officer was taking Val to holding cell.

This crime scene looked like the others, but there were additional mutilations done to this body. The male doctor had been castrated before murdered. The other wounds were the same, the body positioning was the same. Reid moved through the room looking at the few photos, and multiple degrees on the walls. Prentice stood talking quietly to the neighbor who had been the one to find the man, in his living room. The neighbor had come over to make sure he was all right, the doctor never stayed up late, and knowing about the recent murders the neighbor had been concerned.

Morgan shook his head and passed close to Reid. "The MO changed."

Reid was now studying the books that the MD had on his shelves. "The last two victims were female, but all three have been in the medical field. Maybe the un-sub has softer feelings for females, that's why he was more brutal with this victim."

Moving closer to his friend Morgan said softly, "So I was wrong about the nurse. Is anyone going to bring that up?"

"At the time, all signs pointed to her, no one is talking about you behind your back. You did the right thing at the time." Reid said. Looking over at Morgan he noted how upset his friend was. "What?"

Eyes downcast Morgan confessed, "I wasn't exactly nice to her last night."

"She's a nurse, they are used to tough situations. I am sure she will understand in the end." Reid offered comfort.

Morgan's rang, and he smiled when he saw the caller. "Talk to me beautiful lady."

Garcia's normally bubbly voice tense, "we just got a call on the tip line that I think the team needs to hear."

Morgan made an arm gesture to get the rest of the teams attention. Hotch and Gideon moved closer to him. Hitting the button to make the phone go on speaker, "talk to me beautiful, everyone is listening." Prentice moved over and stood behind Hotch.

"This call just came through on the tip hot line," Garcia's voice was replaced by a recording of a rough male voice, "Let her go, or what I did to the doctor will be kind compared to what I will do to each of you."


	3. Chapter 3

"So is the girl a coconspirator?" Morgan asked as he moved around the table in the room the team had been given to set up in at the police station. The team had reassembled and the coffee was flowing freely.

Reid took a sip of coffee and frowned at the cup. "There is no evidence to suggest that it has been more then one un-sub at any of the crime scenes and the cutting pattern that was used on this last one is the same as on the first two."

Crossing his arms where he stood leaning against the coffee counter Gideon commented, "We were finally able to confirm her alibi for the night of the other two murders. But now we have to figure out what she is to the un-sub. Why does he want us to let her go, and how did he know we had her?"

"He could have been watching her house; a neighbor perhaps, who noticed that she didn't come home the other night?" Prentiss asked.

"No, Val worked doubles a lot, so if she didn't come home one night it was nothing new for her." Morgan said, then caught himself and frowned. He didn't want to defend the nurse, he still thought she had a larger role to play in this then she was letting on to.

Hotch commented, "It also isn't rare for someone who works long hours to crash at work, how many times have one of us slept on the couch at work, or just slept at your desk when things get busy."

"So we are looking for someone who either worked at the hospital or maybe she was being stalked?" JJ asked.

"You're just going to let her go?" Sheriff Wilson asked from the doorway.

Hotch studied the man for a moment before saying, "given the recent addition to evidence there is nothing that we can hold her on."

Gideon nodded, "Lets start back at the hospital, see if anything new has turned up there. Maybe they will have found the chart that was lost with the security video, I still can't believe they misplaced that during their investigation." He shook his head at the lack of organization the hospital had displayed in loosing both the chart and the security feed from the night Val had saved the patients life. "In the mean time, I want a watch on Val, and I would prefer she didn't go back to work, too many places there to cover and easily accessible weapons."

Stepping away from the doorway Sheriff Wilson stared at the team of FBI before him and said doubtfully, "what kind of weapons are you expecting to find at a hospital, we are a smaller town, but we do have metal detectors in the ER there, and security staff."

"Just the kind of weapon our un-sub would go for, scalpels." Hotch said grimly.

*****************************************************************

Val glared at the men who approached her cell. She had been a little surprised at how easily she slept that night-what little sleep she had gotten, before these people showed up to make her life a living hell again. "Are you here for round two?" She asked from the defensive position she had taken up on her bed, her legs folded beneath her. She didn't seem to care that her long brown hair was askew, and her clothes were wrinkled.

Taking his sunglasses off Morgan studied her. He wasn't sure if it would be kinder to put it bluntly or to ease her into another death at her hospital, but considering she wasn't being the nicest, he didn't feel like being nice either. "Dr. Stone from your work was found murdered early this morning."

She went pale, deathly pale, and it made the dark circles under her eyes stand out even more. "Dr. Stone?" she whispered.

Morgan instantly regretted the low blow but kept him self-distant from the woman. "His neighbor went to check on him and found him, called it in."

When Val spoke again her voice was gravely with suppressed emotions and her eyes were unfocused. "Mrs. Stapple, she's a good lady, lost her husband a few years ago, she always looked in on Stone," she cocked her head a little, "even at awkward times."

"Are you telling us that you and the doctor were more then just co-workers?" Reid asked as he walked up behind Morgan. He shot his friend a look asking why Val was still in her cell and not on the way to her house; Morgan ignored him and focused on the nurse.

Val shook her head and wiped in vain at the tears that had begun to leak from her unwilling eyes, "we used to be, but things changes. I never wished ill of him. He was always kind to me, until a few weeks ago anyway." Her voice trailed off, but there was no bitterness to her voice. Just sorrow.

Reid stepped forward and opened her cell door. "We are going to need to keep you away from work, just until we figure out what is going on."

Eyes wary, Val regarded the two men, "So I am staying here until you figure all this out?"

"No, no, no, no, you are going home, we just…don't want you to go to work." Reid explained.

Taking a step forward and therefore taking the attention away from Reid, Morgan's eyes locked on Val's wary ones. "We think that the un-sub may be at your work, and we can't protect you there."

"Protect me?" Val's voice raised a few notches. "Protect me, last night you were convinced that I was a murder, and now you want to protect me." She shook her head and crossed her arms, visibly disturbed.

"Its our job." Morgan said through gritted teeth.

Reid regarded Morgan for a moment before stepping around him to get to Val. "We are concerned that the un-sub is watching you at work, if we take you away from that, it may take the him away from the hospital. And your house is much easier to survey and keep safe. This is just temporary."

Slowly Val's gaze went from Morgan to Reid. She studied him for a moment before standing. "Lets just get this over with." She swallowed her tears and followed the two agents out of the cell.

*****************************************************************

Prentiss and Gideon canvassed the hospital again, asking everyone involved in the case that Val had gotten suspended over. The only problem was that the two other nurses who had been with her in ER that night had been victims one and two, and the doctor that had come in at the end of the case had been the third victim. Everyone that they talked to had only been involved in the case in passing. And no one could think of anything specific about the patient, except that he did seem upset that Val had gotten in trouble for what she had done in the ER.

Prentiss turned to Gideon after talking to the floor nurse who had taken care of the un-sub after his stay in ER. "Could our un-sub think that he is in love with Val? That is the fourth person in a row that said that he asked about her by name."

Gideon was silent for a moment, "Reid said that Val reported recognizing the un-sub when he showed up in the ER, but that she didn't know where from. It would explain why he was so concerned for her, and it would explain why everyone else involved in the case has turned up dead. He would think he is protecting her, in some odd fashion. Maybe we need to dig a little bit more into her past." He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Garcia.

"Queen of all things you want to know, how can I help you." Garcia's happy voice answered the phone.

"Garcia, Gideon. You said that Val was involved in a few societies, any chance we can get pictures of any of the males that she could have interacted with that fit the profile, white male 30-to mid forties, medical background."

The only sound coming from Garcia's end was the clicking of her keyboard. "She is involved with the AHA, and the ACS, the only wrinkle in your diabolical plan is that she is a volunteer, and neither of them require their volunteers to provide a photo id. So this could take me a little while."

"Just get us what you can when you can." Gideon said before he hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Prentiss observed Gideon for a moment before asking, "You think maybe she met the un-sub through one of her volunteer organizations?"

"We know she doesn't have much of a life outside of the hospital, so either she met him there, or through one of those groups. Have we had any luck getting the security video yet?" Gideon said as he flipped through the file folder in front of him.

Prentiss shook her head, "The video was pulled initially for evidence against Val, and was never returned to security. And the chart was lost as well, no seems to remember who was supposed to take it to medical records. There is something to be said for electronic charting, this hospital needs to catch up to the times." Flipping through her own file Prentiss kept tried to think of a nice way to ask what had been bothering her for the better part of the morning. "Morgan and Val don't seem to get along that well."

Gideon glanced at Prentiss over the top of his case file, but Prentiss didn't lock eyes with him. "Interrogation last night was a little intense."

"Is there any reason that you can think of that he shouldn't be the one outside her house."

This time Gideon caught her eye when she glanced at him. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"She's been through a lot, I just don't think we should put her through anything more." Prentiss admitted.

"Morgan is a good agent, he wont let personal feelings get in the way of what is right. " Gideon said, finally moving his gaze away from Prentiss's. "He wont overstep his bounds, and if there was any real concern, he would have to be asked to leave the case." Gideon paused a moment before asking, "Do we have a reason to ask him to leave the case?"

Prentiss was silent for a moment taken aback, "I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want him on this case." She offered Gideon a reassuring smile that wasn't so reassuring.

Val had spent longer then she would have ever though possible in the shower, trying to rinse away the last 24 hours along with the scent of the holding cell she had spent the night in. Once out of the shower and wrapped in a towel she stood in front of the mirror for a long time before making a tough decision. A few weeks ago one of the doctors noticed that Val hadn't been sleeping well and written her a prescription for Ambien. With a resolved sigh, Val pulled out the vile and popped one of the small pills into her palm. She knew it wouldn't give her the REM sleep that she dearly needed, but she was afraid without it she wouldn't be able to sleep at all. She didn't want to dream tonight anyway, every time she closed her eyes she saw Dr. Stone, and wanted to cry. Fighting back the tears she didn't want to shed, she swallowed the pill without water, and turned off the light in the restroom before climbing into bed.

*****************************************************************

Morgan and Reid sat comfortably in their car around the corner from Val's house. "So Val didn't seem to talkative on the ride home." Morgan stated to break the silence.

Reid took a sip from his now cooling coffee cup and frowned. He was a little upset that he hadn't been sent to the hospital with Gideon to question the staff, he wanted another cup of the coffee there. "She did seem happy to get home. But I am a little surprised that she was so upset about not being allowed to return to work. She said she hadn't had time to grieve so you would think she would be happy to have a little time to herself."

"She isn't exactly alone right now is she?" Morgan took a sip of his coffee. They fell silent for a few minuets both of them lost in their own thoughts. "Maybe she wants to go to work because it would provide a distraction from dealing with this? Three people that she was close to are dead. And now we think that someone is after her. If that was me I sure would have trouble sitting still at home."

Nodding Reid offered his own theory. "Val doesn't strike me as the kind of person who enjoys being the center of attention. A lot of the people that are drawn to nursing as a profession are strong willed, but naturally submissive. They want to help people, want to take care of others rather then themselves. Like how she made sure we had coffee before she had a cup herself. In a way this is a subtle kind of torture for her, being thrown into the center of attention."

"Lets look at this from a different point of view." Morgan said trying to keep awake. "When she described the un-sub she said he looked familiar, but she didn't know from where, granted that could just be due to the excitement of what went on that night. JJ showed her all the photos that Garcia could find of males who volunteer for the same associations. Val didn't recognize any of them as the patient that she had that night. The security video is still missing. What about a coworker at the hospital? Someone who saw her every day?"

"That's highly unlikely, one of the other nurses would have recognized someone like that." Reid dismissed Morgan's theory.

Morgan dropped his head back against the neck rest, thinking hard. "Val, Val, Val, how did you know this guy."

Reid tapped his hand against the coffee cup, studying the night around them. "How long has Val been a nurse at this hospital?"

"Her file said since she got her RN license, so 2004." Morgan answered.

"And the other nurses how long were they there?"

Morgan glanced at Reid confused, "I don't know, it would be in the files though." He reached into the center console and retrieved the file folders there. Flipping through them he pulled first one file then the next. "Amy was employed in 2004 a few months after Val, and Lela was employed in 2006."

Reid nodded. "So maybe the un-sub had come in to the ER before and knew Val, so he felt more comfortable with her assisting him then someone else? That would account for going to her instead of the other nurses he saw. And it would also be why she recognized him, but didn't know where from. ER nurses see thousands of people every year, so she couldn't be expected to remember everyone she had treated."

"That's great and all, but it doesn't explain how the person had a medical background." Morgan pointed out as he put the files back in the center console. The night outside of the car was quite, not even so much as a neighborhood cat was out hunting.

Another silence passed between the two agents, as they were both lost in their own thoughts. Reid took a deep breath as though to speak, but shook his head instead of speaking. Turning to question him Morgan raised an eyebrow. Reid smiled guiltily, "What if she met him through school? There was a group of med students there the other day I saw them. They were the only people in matching scrubs, everyone else was wearing more colorful ones-they kind of stuck out."

"I didn't notice them." Morgan answered flatly.

"Has anyone done a search for any past medical students, students that would have been there when Val was before the others were hired?" Reid asked.

Morgan cocked his head to an angle, "sounds like a Garcia question to me."

Reid's phone gave a single beep indicating a text message he reached for it and read the message out loud. "'Goodnight.' Guess that Val is going to sleep, and didn't want us to worry that her light is going off." As if on cue, the light where her bedroom was went out.

Nodding Morgan took another sip of coffee, "if anyone needs a good nights rest its her."

_She was home, but not alone, how inconvenient_, he thought as he studied her bedroom window. The light had just gone out. He wanted to be closer to her, wanted to watch her chest rise and fall as she slept, wanted to feel her skin. He had loved her for so long, and only recently been able to find a way to show her how deeply that love ran. Because only recently he had known that she felt the same way, why else would she risk her career for him? She had to love him. Maybe she was just shy, that's why she hadn't expressed her love to him sooner. It was only a matter of time before they would be able to be together for the rest of their lives. Together in the physical sense, he already knew she was his soul mate, the one he was supposed to be with forever. Maybe another gift would be what she needed to prove his love for her…


	4. Chapter 4

After meeting with the police to deliver their profile the team met in private. The profile they had given the police and public to go by was that of a male in his thirties to forties, white and from what the hospital staff remembered he had dark hair. They explained how he would have some sort of a medical background, could be am EMT or even a doctor. After Gideon hypothesized that it could be someone from Val's past, weather recently, or a past acquaintance, Morgan gave another theory. The un-sub went for the one nurse who was already with another patient, and the one nurse who wasn't a size extra small. He could have a family member, mother or sister, who was slightly overweight so he felt more comfortable with that kind of woman looking over him. Reid explained the way that the un-sub could have been watching her, a patient who comes in often, or someone who works nearby so that he would be able to observe her at his leisure. Hotch gave a warning that everyone knew to well, expect the unexpected, the un-sub they were looking for was not the kind to interject himself into the investigation, he was more likely to be the last person they would expect it to be.

Alone as a team at last, the police working in the investigation now armed with their profile, and watching over Val's house, the team was able to regroup. Everyone had large cups of coffee before them, and there was more then one pair of blood shot eyes.

"Anything new at the hospital?" Hotch asked as a way to start the meeting.

Gideon hastily finished his swallow of coffee before speaking first. "We spoke to the floor nurse who took care of the un-sub, and anyone who had anything to do with the case even in passing. Several of them said that the un-sub asked about Val by name."

"Which suggest that he knew her before he saw her down stairs in the ER. They also said that he seemed genuinely upset when he found out that she had been suspended over what she did for him." Prentiss picked up the story when Gideon reached for his cup again.

"What was the staff doing talking about that with the patient?" JJ demanded.

Gideon shrugged, "It's a small hospital, I am sure gossip like that traveled, and he must have over heard it."

JJ shook her head and crossed her arms but didn't say anything else.

"The impression that we got from everyone was that she was well liked, but no one was surprised that she was capable of this." Prentiss said.

"How could the staff jump to a conclusion like that?" Reid said with a frown.

Morgan dropped his head to his hands, "we gave them the idea." Everyone stared at him, he looked up with a sigh. "We are always saying that it's the least likely subject to 'expect the unexpected'. And with Reid and I taking her out of the hospital in the fashion that we did, didn't exactly make her the most popular person. It was only a matter of time before the staff came to their own conclusions."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Hotch cleared his throat to break the silence, "be that as it may, its not important at the time, if we need to transfer her after this is said and done with we will. But right now we need to focus on finding the un-sub."

"We had an idea last night, and had Garcia do a search on it. The hospital is considered a teaching hospital, in that there are always students there-both nursing and medical. We had Garcia do a search to see if any of the students fit the profile that were there before the other two girls came onto staff. That would account for him recognizing Val and not the other two." Reid said, hoping to get the team back on the case.

"It would also explain the medical knowledge. What did you find?" JJ asked happy to grasp onto a more productive topic.

Morgan allowed Reid to lead the conversation, it had been his idea in the first place. "Garcia found 15 students that fit the profile, five of them still live in the area." His fingers began flying over the computer in front of him. As he pulled up the files he sent them to the larger screen in the room. Five photos dominated the screen.

"Have you thought to show these to Val? See if she can point him out?" Prentiss asked.

"We were hoping that we could do the search and narrow it down just a little bit more before we had her go through them." Reid explained looking up.

Morgan took a deep breath and said on the end of a sigh, "the girl has been through a lot. The less we have to traumatize her more, the better."

Reid shot his friend a narrow eyed look, but didn't say anything. He clicked on a single photo bringing it up on the large plasma screen in the room, "this is Adam Clean. And like his name suggests we have nothing on him. He finished medical school, and is working at Cedar Cyanide. Married and has three kids." He clicked on the next photo in the group. "This is Samuel Gates. He also finished school, but never opted to take the state board exam, he now works with his brother and father for Baxter. Married also, no kids yet." Reid clicked on the third photo in the group. "Nathan Starr. He barely made it into med school. And didn't finish, he made it through the first three years, and dropped out before the fourth year started. He is the only one in the group that didn't finish. Instead of going back to med school, he went for his BSN. And is working as a nurse for a private practice office." The next photo, "this is Matt Wolf, finished med school top of his class and is working for Kaiser as a surgical resident. Not married." The last photo in the group was on the screen. "Patrick Demore. He didn't finish med school, and did not continue in the medical field. He works as a teacher out of the local community college."

Nodding Hotch signaled for Reid to leave the group of photos up on the screen. "This gives us a group to focus on. Thank you Reid, Morgan. I want to know where these men were on the nights of all the murders. I want to know if they have ever been to Los Robles Hospital since their rotations there. And show them a photo of Val to see their reactions to her."

"This un-sub doesn't know we are looking for him most likely, he thinks we will focus on the hospital and that we don't know he is connected so notice how he reacts when you bring up anything about the case. He may say false information that has been mentioned on the news to see if we are on to him." Gideon added.

"I know some of you are coming off of a shift, and will be back on tonight, so Reid and Morgan get some sleep. The rest of us in pairs." Hotch said as he gathered the papers before him and got ready to leave himself.

Before anyone could leave the room Sheriff Wilson walked into the room cutting off the only exit. "We just got a call from the hospital, Amy Bacca didn't show up for her shift a few hours ago, they tried to call her house and got no answer."

"Amy, we spoke to her yesterday, she was the floor nurse when the un-sub was transferred to the medical surgical floor." Prentiss stood, her files in one hand, coffee cup in the other.

Nodding the Sheriff continued, "I have a squad car heading over to her residence now, could be nothing, but…"

"Could be victim number four," Hotch finished for him. "Gideon and I will head to her house now, JJ and Prentiss will continue to the suspects Reid and Morgan found, you two are still off, meet back here at 5:30." Dismissed the team gathered their belongings and headed in their separate directions.

Morgan hung back and caught Hotch's eye after the rest of the team had left. "I am fine, I can go out and question someone. I don't need any sleep."

Hotch studied his agent for a few moments while he fixed the collar on his jacket. "You were up all last night watching her house, and up late the night before and in early. You have been working to much, you need a break." When Morgan opened his mouth to say something Hotch cut him off, "its not that I don't think you can handle a few nights without sleep. It's just that if anything is going to happen, it will be in the next few days. We know the un-sub doesn't kill during the day-but if you were right and this suspect is one of those 5, us talking to him may force him to change his MO or to speed up his plans. So I need you focused and awake when you are on shift. Understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." Morgan said settling back down into his chair.

Hotch studied him for a moment before heading out of the room, at the last moment he turned, "Did everything go all right last night? I know that in interrogation you weren't exactly gentle with her, and while I know that tends to be your style, it is never easy to be on civil terms with someone after you have that kind of conversation. Would you prefer to go on day shift, and have someone else take your night watch?"

It took Morgan a few moments to raise his eyes to his boss's "We aren't going to be life long friends, but I can do my job, and she knows that. I want to stay on night watch."

Nodding Hotch left the room to join Gideon, and hopefully not travel to another murder scene.

Sitting still didn't exactly come easily for Val, she was used to being up and about, running errands or preparing for something. Not sitting at home with police outside of her house just incase she tried to do anything or go anywhere. It was like being in that dam holding cell again. She had done the only thing she could think to do while confined to her house; she had cleaned it from top to bottom. Spending hours oiling ever piece of wooden furniture that she had. Vacuuming, polishing, washing, dusting but no matter what she did, she couldn't keep her mind off what she didn't want to think about. She didn't want to remember what had happened to her friends. Or what was likely to happen to her.

She remembered her psychic rotation better then some of the more pleasant ones from when she was in nursing school. She hadn't known a lot about psych before the rotation had started, only what was portrayed on TV and in the movies. But when you are sitting next to someone who is having a conversation with a teaspoon as though they were the queen of Sheba, you begin to wonder what books those writers were using as references. Psych had never appealed to her, she had learned enough to know it wasn't her field, and survived the class. Picking up a few good to know traits, like when to play along with a psychopath, and when to try to reorient them to time and place.

Knowing that the FBI thought that she was the next target weighted heavy on her mind. Knowing she was being watched by the police every moment wasn't the comfort that it should have been, it made her twitchy, and restless. It made her feel like a caged animal waiting to be picked for dinner. Shaking her head she forced those thoughts away from her. And tried to think of happier things, though nothing came to mind. A few hours of heavy gardening was what she needed, it would tire the muscles and occupy the mind. She had a large enough back yard to accommodate a modest vegetable garden that could always use some TLC.

Even though she had known what the possible side effects for Ambien could be, she didn't like the sluggish feeling that she had all day. She had slept though the night without dreams, and was grateful for that. But without REM sleep, she felt like she had been cheated while sleeping. Tonight she was going to go to bed early, and if she had trouble sleeping it was Benadryl for her. No more prescription sleep aids, just good old fashion Diphenhydramine.

Gideon and Hotch knew it was a crime scene from the moment they pulled up. The tape was already across the doorway, and the police milling about, keeping the neighbors back, and gathering evidence were all to familiar. Grabbing a pair of blue booties, and gloves Gideon moved around the car to the Sheriff, who had gotten there before them and was coming to greet them.

"Sad to say, looks the same as the other three," Sheriff Wilson said in greeting, "didn't appear to put up a fight."

Nodding to acknowledge that they had heard him Hotch and Gideon walked to the crime scene tape and into the well kept house. Amy Bacca had lived alone in a quiet small corner of the community. Looking at the many photos on the walls gave Gideon a better impression of the quite girl he had spoken to the day before. Moving from the entry way into the living room, they saw her body laying supine position on the floor, all the markings were the same. It was a mirror image of the last three crime scenes they had been to. Gideon continued to move around the room, noting her taste in furniture, and the various family photos around the room. Hotch stopped at the desk, tugging his gloves on, he gently lifted a plane white envelope that had 'Val' written on it in masculine script, but wasn't sealed.

Gideon appeared over his shoulder and frowned at the envelope. Noting that the envelope had already been torn open, Hotch withdrew the letter within and opened it, and continued to frown at what he found.

My beloved Val,

I know things have not been the best between us as of late, but I hope that my gifts have pleased you. You are a rare and wonderful woman, who I feel blessed to know. It is only a matter of time before this matter is over and we are free to be together once again. You hold my heart, be gentle with it.

"He didn't sign it." Hotch said turning the paper over to check the back.

Gideon pulled out a bag from his pocket and helped Hotch put the letter inside of it. "A name would have been to easy, maybe we will get lucky with a fingerprint though."

Nodding, but not sharing his friends optimism, Hotch sealed the bag and continued to search the room. They worked the crime scene for several more hours before rejoining the team to give their report.

They regrouped at 5:30 in the same room, Morgan and Reid fresh after their nap, and the rest of the team had plenty to tell them. JJ and Prentiss had talked to each of the med students suspects. Nathan was the only one who's alibis were a little off. And he was the only one who reacted oddly when shown a photo of Val. "he said something about Val was the reason that he went into nursing over perusing his MD." JJ explained to the rest of the group.

"Its not uncommon for doctors to be envious of the time that nurses get to spend with their patients." Reid settled his hip on the counter and stirred his coffee.

"How many of the doctors are willing to give up all the time and money that they spent to get into med school though?" Morgan asked

Prentiss shrugged, "he is the only one who remembered Val by name to, but other then that we are still waiting for the alibi confirmation."

Hotch and Gideon shared what they had found at the fourth crime scene. The team poured over the letter together, observing the hand writing, and reading into every possible line.

"So we were rite about the love aspect of it, and he views the bodies as gifts to her, that is why he takes his time to make sure that they are perfect." Prentiss said, reading the letter off the plasma screen.

Morgan's cell phone buzzed impatiently for his attention, smiling he flipped it open, "tell me something half as beautiful as you."

Garcia giggled on her end of the phone, "ohoo sugar you know just how to get me started. I got the finger print results back on that letter that Hotch and Gideon found today."

"Hang on just a second baby girl, let me put you on speaker." Hitting a button he held the phone out for all to hear, "talk to us sweet thing."

The sound of fingers dancing on a keyboard greeted the group, "So we were able to identify not just one but two sets of finger prints on that letter, but none on the envelope." The key clicking increased for a second before, "Jinkes, it looks like the two hits were Val and Dr. Stone. Why would Amy have a letter at her house that has their finger prints on it?"

Val stepped out of she shower and wrapped herself tightly in the thick warm towel she had waiting for her. Whipping the condensation from the mirror she frowned at her reflection. The dark circles under her eyes looked worse then the night before. After brushing her hair and applying moisturizer she reviewed her self again. Being a multi-tasker and being able to sit still often didn't go hand in hand. Never before had a day taken quite this long to pass, not even a double 12 hours shift felt as long as today had. Turning away from the mirror she pulled on a tank top and a pair of shorts for sleeping, and hung the towel on the back of the door. Turning the light off she opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks. Framed by the light coming from her bedroom stood the unmistakable outline of a man.


	5. Chapter 5

Woken by her own scream Val sat strait up in bed, shaking and shivering. A cold sweat broke out across her brow as the shadows of the room slowly came into focus. The terror of the dream clung to her mind like a wet spider web. Pounding on her front door made her gasp, and draw the covers up higher.

"Val? Val its Reid, are you ok?" Reid's voice carried through the house.

Recognition was slow, but eventually she remembered giving Reid and Morgan a key to her house. When she saw him in the doorway, she thought she was trapped in her dream again, until she heard his voice.

"Val?" gun still in hand, Reid advanced slowly into the room, Morgan was behind him gun at his side.

"Val anything wrong? Are you ok?" Morgan asked tersely.

Hitting the light switch, Reid walked into the room. Val stared at them wide eyed in terror, embarrassment beginning to grow in the pit of her stomach. Morgan stayed in the doorway for a moment, "I am going to check out the rest of the house, you ok here Reid?"

Nodding, but not bothering to look back, Reid put his gun back in the holster and held up both hands as he slowly advanced towards Val.

She didn't look up, instead she closed her eyes drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, she was shaking uncontrolled. "Val, listen to me, listen to my voice, you are safe. Morgan and I are here for you, nothing is going to happen." He knelt by the bed, getting on her eye level. Gently placing a hand on her shoulder, Reid didn't pull back when she flinched. Moving slowly as though in a dream, Val turned to look at him. "See, your safe Hun, no one here but me."

In a lung motion Val reached out and clung to Reid, wrapping her arm around him, and burying her head in his shoulder, sobing. "I got you, your safe. Shhhh, Val your safe, I have you." Reid held her and soothed, gently stroking her back and hair.

Joining them in the room Morgan watched Reid for a moment before clearing his throat, "The house is clear, false alarm."

Waving Morgan off, Reid continued to sooth Val, "Was it a dream? Your safe now, can you tell me about the dream?"

Shaking violently still, Val nodded, "it was just a dream." Still clinging, Val told Reid what she remembered about the dream.

"Did you get a good look at him, was it your patient from the hospital, the one that you had to intubate? Can you remember what he looked like, any defining features. Remember your safe, I got you." Reid coaxed.

Thinking as hard as she could, Val frowned, "he was lit from behind, I can't know for sure it was the same man. He was tall, broad shoulders. Nothing else." She buried her head in his shoulder, and found comfort in him.

Reid made eye contact with Morgan over Val's shoulder. And mouthed to him, "I got it." Morgan stood there a moment longer before retreating to the car, locking the front door on his way out. Reid stayed with her for several more moments before being able to coax her out of the bed and into the kitchen. Once there she made them each a cup of tea and settled next to him at the table.

"I should have just taken the dam pill." Val said after a few moments of silence.

Looking up Reid asked her, "What pill?"

"Ambien, it would have prevented that dream." Val said taking a sip of her tea, then added a little honey to it.

"You can't suppress this forever, you need to move through the grieving process. You need to take some time for your self." Reid watched her movements, noting that her hands were still shaking.

Val met his eyes, and was surprised at the genuine concern that she saw in them. "How do you do it? How do you meet people every day that you may not be able to help?"

"I could ask you the same question." Reid said with a smile.

Val looked away from him, and took a sip of her tea. After a few moments of contemplation she answered with, "I need to try. Sometimes just being there to listen, to comfort, to show that you care can make the difference in someone's life." She reached across the table and took Reid's hand. "You have no idea how therapeutic touch can be to someone who is dying. Sometimes all I can do for a patient is to hold their hand, and they know they aren't alone." She gave him a weak smile, and let go of his hand.

Reid observed her for a few seconds, then reached over and linked his fingers with hers. "You're not going to die, not that way, but I understand how important it is sometimes to be reminded that you are not alone." When his eyes met hers he saw the tears she was fighting. "If it would help you sleep, I will stay here for the rest of the night."

Shaking her head she didn't want to have any more attention the she already had, "No that won't be necessary, but thank you. I am just going to finish my tea, and take a Benadryl." When Reid opened his mouth she cut him off, "it wont suppress REM sleep, but it will help me fall asleep."

"Actually I was going to ask for a cup of coffee before you went to sleep?" Reid asked with an innocent smile.

Laughing Val went to stand up, but Reid still held her hand, when she raised an eyebrow in question he answered, "no rush, enjoy your tea first." Val sank back into her chair and enjoyed knowing she wasn't alone.

Reid held her hand for a few more minuets before breaching the subject that he knew would upset her, the letter. "We found a unusual letter today, it was addressed to you."

Looking up Val paled a little, "to me?"

Nodding Reid continued, "it read like a letter from a lover." He was able to recite the letter from memory, and observed Val's reaction.

Val stared at the table while she listened to Reid recite the correspondence and frowned her head slowly shaking from side to side, "Where did you find that?" when Reid didn't answer Val pulled her hand away from his, he let go without a fight. "That was private, where did you find it?"

"Who was it from Val? Was it from Dr. Stone?" Reid asked gently.

Head still shaking Val pulled her feet up on her chair and wrapped her arms around her knees; "It was from Stone, he gave it to me a few days after I was suspended. He said he wanted us to get back together, but it would have to wait, it would look bad if we were having a relationship with everything that was going on and how involved he was in the investigation." Val hugged herself tighter, "he even brought up us moving in together once. But…" she blinked back the tears and turned her head away from Reid.

Talking slowly, and trying not to sound anxious Reid asked, "Val where was the letter? Do you remember where you had put it?"

Sniffing, and whipping at the tears Val turned to look at him, "you found it. I had it in the top drawer in my desk in the office."

Reid's hand was on his gun before he knew what he was doing, the un-sub had been in the house, maybe when Val had been here, maybe when he had been here. His thoughts began racing, should they get her out of there? Should he insist on staying in the house, should they call the team together. The pattern that the killer preferred was a kill every other night, but if they had spoken to him today then the killer may be speeding things up.

Reid jumped when a hand touched his, Val stared at him in concern. "You look as white as a page, are you ok? I will make that coffee, you look like you need it." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and moved away from the table. He watched her for a moment and realized that she was dealing with the grief the only way she knew how to, she was suppressing it by caring for others. As long as the un-sub stayed with his original timetable, nothing was going to happen tonight, but Reid wasn't about to gamble Val's life on that. "If you don't mind, I will run some coffee out to Morgan, and then I am going to crash on your couch for the rest of the night. The sun will be up in a few hours anyway." He offered her a warm smile, which she gave a shadow of in return before focusing on the coffee.

Why was he still in there, he had checked to make sure that she was all right, so why was that FBI agent still in there with her? He should be in there; he should be holding her hand, not that skinny little agent. Why would she allow him to be that close to her? Why was she making tea for that man, when HE was her one true love, he was the one who was going to spend the rest of eternity with her? Taking a deep breath he steadied himself, time, it was all a matter of time, then he would be with Val for the rest of time.

Morgan gratefully accepted the cup of coffee and cast a speculative glace at the large thermos that Reid held. "He was in the house." Reid's startling announcement shocked Morgan away from the coffee

"Excuse me?"

Taking a deep breath and leaning against the drivers side of the dark SUV Reid locked eyes with Morgan, "The letter that Hotch and Gideon found today, she had it kept it in the top drawer of her desk."

Morgan stared at Reid in disbelief for a moment, "When was the last time that she saw it? Was he in there yesterday? Or last week."

His head shaking, words failed Reid, he opened his mouth but couldn't form them. "I just-I mean…"

"I know, I know. Now what?" shaking his head Morgan leaned back in the drivers seat.

"I am going to stay in the house, but I don't like the idea of you out here alone-"

"You know me better then that, I will be fine." Morgan said doubly grateful for the coffee. He glanced at the dashboard clock and smiled it was 4:45. The team would be waking up in the next hour or two. "Go on in, keep her safe."

Reid nodded before heading back to Val's house. He didn't like the circumstances, they needed to move Val. But the team would be meeting in a few hours, they would discus what to do then.

Morgan watched Reid until he was safely in the house, then he flipped open his cell phone and dialed a well-known number.

"I may be the goddess of knowledge, but even this goddess needs some sleep." Garcia's voice answered.

Smiling Morgan answered, "Don't give me that lip baby momma, its 3 hours later for you then it is for me."

"And you sound like you have been up all night, what can I do for you?" Garcia asked on the end of a long yawn.

"I know this is going to be a long shot, but any chance you did a background check on Val's neighbors? I know we initially wrote them off, but I have a hunch." Morgan asked, before taking a sip of the coffee and smiling. Val had a way when it came to caffeinated beverages.

There was nothing but the sound of key board clicking on Garcia's end for a few moments then, "Nothing in depth, but I did do a quick search, none of her immediate neighbors fit the profile, the two on either side of her are married and in their late fifties, kids grown and living away from home. And that seems to be the trend for the street, she is the only one under forty for several houses in either direction."

Morgan frowned, "What about the houses that might back up to her? Any of them in the right field of work, or fit the profile?"

"Oho baby cakes, you know I am good, but I am not quite that good, that will take me a little while, and I will let you know what I find when I find it." Garcia sighed.

"All right hot stuff let me know." Morgan flipped the phone closed and was left alone in the predawn light with his thoughts, and a full cup of coffee.

Morgan called the team before they could meet so that everyone arrived at Val's house instead of the police station. Reid had made sure that Val had taken a dose of Diphenhydramine and was in her room sound asleep, before joining the rest of the team in the kitchen.

"What happened last night?" JJ asked settled herself at the table.

After catching everyone up on the little drama of the night Morgan opened the conversation to theories.

"We move her its only going to have him focusing on us even more. If she is willing, we should keep her here, we can watch her, and hopefully we will find him before he tries anything." Prentiss suggested.

Reid nodded, "She isn't willing to go back to the station, or to a hotel, she says its bad enough being 'cooped up' here." He smiled slightly at how she had described it.

Gideon turned to Morgan, "Tell us about the search you had Garcia do early this morning."

"Its just a hunch, the un-sub was able to get into her house possibly while we had it under watch, which suggests that he didn't use the front door. So I am having her do a search on the bordering neighbors, maybe he hopped the fence?" Morgan shrugged.

Hotch crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter, "Our initial theory excluded the immediate neighbors, but that would explain why it was someone that she knew, but maybe didn't recognize, and why he would have gone to her over the other nurses. Lets see what this search reveals. In the mean time. I want to keep agents at the house at all times. Morgan, Reid, get some sleep."

Val was wrist deep in weeding when she heard someone approaching her from behind, glancing she offered a smile of welcome to JJ. "Your garden is beautiful." JJ said by way of greeting.

Dusting off her gloves against one another, Val stretched her back and surveyed the work she had gotten done so far. The roses still needed to be pruned, but there wasn't so much as a whisper of a weed in her vegetables. "Thank you, if you want to see a really beauty of a garden look into my neighbors yard." She began pulling off her gloves by the fingers, then dusted them together as she stood.

JJ pulled her hair back from her face and went to the closest wall, "No not that one." Val moved past JJ to the far back wall and peaked over. "Mr. Laurence always manages to get the biggest tomatoes, and the sweetest smelling roses." She cast an envious look over the back wall.

Following her lead, JJ stood on her tip toes and got a glimpse of a well kept back yard, with a large vegetable garden on one side. "Do you get to spend much time out here?"

Finally looking away Val shook her head sadly, "Not as much as I would like. Work comes first, but its always a nice distraction. And it gives me something to discuss with the neighbors."

JJ crossed her arms, and wished again that they had been able to share their latest theory with Val, but the girl was already under enough stress. She had slept nearly to noon today, and didn't look like any of it had done her any good. "Do you see much of your neighbors?"

Slapping her gloves against her thigh, Val shook her head. "Whenever I am back here and I hear them we talk, but I never really see them. Cant gossip and garden at the same time, so we kinda just talk over the fence." She shrugged. "I am going to go turn the oven to preheat, any requests for dinner?"

Smiling JJ declined and remained outside to think. Garcia still had not gotten back to them on the neighbors background checks, the more time JJ spent at the house the more she thought Morgan's latest theory was right.


	6. Chapter 6

Although no requests had been made, everyone on shift enjoyed Val's homemade lasagna and cheesy garlic bread. And she was grateful for the distraction that taking care of others offered her. Even Morgan was impressed enough to have a second piece of pasta. When Reid and Morgan came back on shift Garcia had already contacted the team with what she found about the neighbors behind Val. None of them fit the profile perfectly, there were a few possible, Mr. Lawrence included, but nothing definitive enough for them to go door to door at such a late hour. Wishing the rest of the team good night Morgan and Reid forgo spending the night in the car, for staying in the living room. There were still two sets of uniformed officers stationed outside.

It wasn't until she had offered them desert, ensured they knew where everything was in the kitchen and to help themselves, and double checked that the coffee pot was full that Val retired for the night. Even though she knew they were FBI and there to protect her, it didn't make it easy for her to shower knowing that there were men in her house that she barely knew. Once out of the shower, she looked longingly at the bottle of Benadryl, but opted against it. Her muscles ached, and her mind was sluggish, sleep would come easily that night.

In the living room Morgan and Reid had several photos spread out on the coffee table, each of them was thinking hard, trying to find the missing piece to the puzzle that should be staring them in the face.

"Did Val ever mention what the gift was that Stone hoped would please her, from that letter?" Morgan asked to fill the silence.

Staring intently at a photo Reid answered in a distant voice, "No. But she did mention that he had thought about moving in together, so it could have been a house warming type gift, something that we have seen and didn't even notice." After a few moments silence he finished, "it could have been anything really."

They lapsed back in to silence for several moments, no noise except their flipping of papers and photos, the distant hum of the refrigerator and ticking from the mantel clock.

On the end of a long sigh, Morgan stated "too bad none of her neighbors had a criminal record, or something in their history to give us a clue which one we should be focusing on."

Not looking up from the photo he was studding Reid answered, "it would make our jobs to easy if the un-sub walked around with a neon light above his head." Morgan and Reid shared a knowing smile before focusing on their work.

She didn't know what changed in the silence of her room, but something woke her from a dreamless sleep. Keeping her eyes closed Val listened intently, trying to identify what had woken her. Her muscles protested any movement so she kept still, she hadn't realized how long it had been since she spent an entire afternoon weeding, or what the consequences would be. After several seconds the only sound she could identify was the hum of the bathroom fan, something she had left on for the white noise it provided. After giving herself a mental shake she resettled her head against the pillow. It was only a few seconds before she stiffened at the odd feeling again. It was the soft sound of footsteps on carpet. Thinking it could just be Reid or Morgan checking on her, Val rolled towards the noise, but kept her grip on the cell phone. That first night that the agents had stayed outside her house she had started the tradition of texting them 'good night' something she had continued to do, even last night when they were just in the other room.

Her bedroom was too dark to make out anything at first; either that or she was too sleepy to notice anything out of place. Her hand closed around the cell phone, her throat was dry so when she asked tentatively "Reid?" it was barely above a whisper. Silence answered her at first, then that same soft movement of shoes on carpet. The noise was coming from towards the foot of her bed; glancing there she saw nothing. Then using the cell phone as a flashlight, she flipped it open and held it in front of her self, the illuminated screen lit her room bright enough to see a figure standing at the foot of her bed, it was also bright enough that she was sure it wasn't Reid.

They regarded each other for a moment before he held a single finger to his lips to signal her silence, and moved around the bed to stand next to her. With a slow smile he reached out a hand to her and closed the cell phone, casting the room back in to darkness.

Reid picked up his coffee cup and finished the last swallow; glancing at Morgan's cup he took both into the kitchen for a refill. While standing at the kitchen counter he glanced out the window and frowned at the police car. Remembering how a warm cup of coffee could make the difference in being able to stay awake, he pulled four more glasses from cupboard and filled them with coffee. Walking back to the living room he said, "Hey Morgan, I am going to run some coffee out to the uniforms outside, take a look around while I am out there."

Morgan closed the file folder he had been reading and regarded the younger man.

Smiling sheepishly Reid placed both their cups on the table and slipped his hands in his pockets. "I am hoping the fresh air may clear my mind enough that something that has been eluding me will finally be revealed."

"Nothing against fresh air kid, but I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be outside alone." Morgan said not taking his eyes off of Reid.

Nodding he countered, "and yet the last few hours of last night you were out there alone."

"That's different." Morgan said bluntly.

"Why because its you?" shaking his head Reid took a deep breath, "I don't mean to start a fight, I will be back in a minuet. I just need to clear my head. And besides there are four uniformed officers outside who will be watching my every move. I think I will be safe."

Morgan continued to regard his friend, but didn't oppose him, "just be careful all right?"

"Yes mother." Reid replied with a smile as he headed to the kitchen to get a trey to balance the cups for the officers.

Morgan rose and watched Reid from the window as his friend approached the police car. Turning away from the window he surveyed the mess they had made in the orderly living room. Pictures were strew on every flat surface, charts were piled up on the couch, each one a dead end. They had nothing to go by but the profile. The un-sub they were looking for thought he was guarding Val, which meant that everyone that was really trying to keep her safe was a potential target. Shaking his head he took a sip of coffee and set the cup back down.

Maybe he was being over protective of Reid, maybe not, but that's what he did. Morgan was a protector by nature, and Reid was usually in need of some degree of protection. Now he had Val to watch over too. A quick glance out the window again revealed that Reid was still talking with the cop car positioned in front of the house. They hadn't heard from Val since the text to Reid saying 'good night'. After that nothing, just the hum of the fan she kept on. He hadn't been lying when Morgan had told Hotch that himself and Val would never be life long friends. And Hotch hadn't been lying when he pointed out that their relationship would be strained because of Morgan's interrogation technique. He had watched how Val interacted with everyone around her, she was warm, and caring, the kind of person who would give someone the shirt off her own back. But with him she was distant, she kept him at an arms length as though she was wary of him. Not that he blamed her, but he couldn't help but be envious of everyone else's easy interactions with her.

Reid had been the one to insist that they be in the house tonight instead of in the car, he had wanted to be closer to her if needed. If the un-sub kept to his pattern if something happened it would be tonight. But that didn't make it easier for Morgan. After another glance out the window showed Reid making his way to the other cop car that was located on the side of the house Morgan opted to check on Val. They had been checking on her every hour since she had fallen asleep, just glancing in the room and making sure nothing had changed.

Morgan stopped out side her bedroom and turned on the flashlight, listening out side he could hear nothing but the hum of the fan. Slowly and as silently as he could he turned the knob on her door and shined the light in. Before his eyes recognized what he saw he heard Reid's frantic voice in his earpiece, "Morgan! Morgan the second set of cops are dead, someone slit their throats!" A brief pause followed by, "Morgan answers me!"

Slowly raising both hands above his head Morgan stared at the man in Val's room, she was kneeling on the bed facing Morgan, with a scalpel to her throat.

Another tear leaked out of Val's eyes as she stared at Morgan; silently she mouthed the words 'I'm so sorry'. The intruder wore non-descript jeans, a black T-shirt and a knowing smile. When he spoke it was with a cultured rich voice, "Welcome to the party Agent Morgan."

"Morgan!" Reid tapped his wrist receiver and frowned. Pulling out his cell phone he hit speed dial. He was running back towards Val's house with his gun drawn.

"Reid? Its Hotch what's wrong?"

"Hotch! The police team on the side of the house was killed, and now I cant get a hold of Morgan, he's in the house alone with Val. At least I hope its just the two of them, I am heading back now." Reid ducked a low tree branch and ran across the lawn to the other cop car.

"We will be there as soon as possible, keep trying to get a hold of Morgan, but do not go back in the house. If the un-sub is their best not to give him another hostage." Hotch's voice was harsh.

Nodding Reid hung up the phone and made it to the other police car. In quick broken sentences he caught the other two officers up on what was going on. They got on their radio to inform their captain of what had happened; their Captain's reply was that SWAT was on the way.

Reid shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, how had the un-sub gotten inside? They had been in the house the entire night, and not heard anything. And there had been people in the house all day, so someone would have noticed if there was someone there who wasn't supposed to be. No answerers, he couldn't think of what they were missing. All he knew was that Morgan and Val were inside, and so possibly was the un-sub.

"Morgan, its Reid, do something so that I know you're alive." Reid spoke into his receiver. He continued to try, and there continued to be no answer.

Morgan glared at the un-sub from where he was kneeling by the doorway, his hands behind his head. The un-sub now had his gun, and Reid was still talking in Morgan's ear. His hands so close together he began tapping his wrist receiver in a distinct pattern and just hoped that Reid would hear it and interpret it correctly.

"Odd of them to only send one of you, but then I guess the other one was far to busy offering coffee to those poor dead souls outside." The un-sub said as he stroked Val's hair with the hand not holding the scalpel to her throat. "Heroic in a way, but then your not interested in playing the hero are you? That's not why you became a FBI agent is it?" He lowered his mouth and kissed Val's exposed neck, she muffled her sob and cringed away from him. "Its all right darling, don't be shy." He tried to kiss her again, she pulled away again, annoyed by her action he smacked the back of her head with his fist hard enough to send her flying across the bed to the floor on the side Morgan was on.

Morgan didn't make a move to catch her when she landed beside him.

The un-sub regarded Morgan for a moment before laughing, it was a hollow sound, "I guess the FBI doesn't hire gentle men or hero's."

"If I were to move you would have shot me, you know that, I know that and Val knows that. I am a lot more use to her alive then dead." Morgan said through gritted teeth. He was close enough to touch Val if he just dropped his arms, but he didn't, her eyes were wide open and she was reaching for something under her bed.

Nodding at the truth to that statement the un-sub reached for Morgan's gun, he had tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. He handled the gun as though it were a foreign object, not with the familiarity that Morgan did. "Guns." He said with distaste, "Such a uncivilized weapon."

"And what you did to those people, that was civilized?" Morgan spat, he didn't look at Val, but could still see her out of the corner of his eyes, she had whatever she had been reaching for under the bed. Reid was no longer talking in his ear, but Morgan continued to hit his receiver in the same pattern.

The un-sub replaced the gun in his waistband and regarded Morgan. "What I did to those people was a form of art. Something that people spend years learning, and that I have perfected."

"It wasn't art, it was murder."

"Murder?" he appeared to consider that word for a moment, tapping the flat side of the scalpel to his chin, "Murder you say? I guess from your point of view that it was it appeared to be, but I think of it as means to an end."

Morgan didn't chance a glance at Val, he didn't want to draw the un-subs attention back to her. "And what end is that?"

"Love." He moved closer coming to the foot of the bed, now only steps away from Morgan and Val, without the bed between them. "You see, I have fallen in love with that wonderful young woman, and she loves me too. Its just that those other people wanted to hurt her, and what kind of a lover would I be if I allowed that?"

Reid was visibly relieved when he saw the familiar black SUVs of the bureau pull up at Val's house. He moved to great them and gratefully took the bulletproof vest that JJ handed him.

"Have you had any communications with Morgan yet?" Hotch demanded as he shut the driver's door.

Reid slipped the vest over his head as he answered, "In a way, he hasn't said anything directly, but he is hitting the receiver in a distinct pattern, I just don't know what it is yet."

Gideon put on his earpiece and listened for a moment before speaking, "He's sending Morse code." He listened for another few moments, "he says the un-sub is in there."

Hotch nodded and strapped on his own bulletproof vest, Prentice followed suite. Gideon continued to focus on the message that Morgan was trying to send them. He didn't know if the agent was under stress or what kind of situation they would be going into. Keeping his voice calm he said into his receiver "Morgan its Gideon, the team is here, we got your message that the un-sub is here. Do we need to know anything else? Do you know who he is?"

There was a delay in the answer, weather it was because Morgan had to remember Morse code symbols or because he couldn't answer Gideon couldn't tell. Then he heard, 'don't know who.'

"Guys!" Gideon called to get the rest of the teams attention, "Morgan can hear us on the communicators, and is answering back with Morse code. We need to gather more information before we go in their or more people will get hurt."

"We need to be fast about it," Prentice said with a wary glance up the street. "SWAT is almost here, once they get here we may not be able to hold them back."

Hotch nodded and regarded his team for a moment, "Gideon, you and Reid try to get as much information out of Morgan as you can. The rest of us, lets try to stall the police."

Reid frowned, "I should have known it was Morse code, but…I'm sorry I shouldn't have left Morgan alone."

Gideon studied the young man beside him, sometimes it was easy to remember that despite all of Reid's knowledge he was still young, still in his twenties, and maturity and knowledge did not always come hand in hand. Reid still had growing up to do. Placing a hand on his shoulder Gideon offered him a smile, "you did what you thought was best at the time, don't beet your self up about something you cant change. Don't forget the past, but don't stress over it, learn from it."

It took a few tries, but Reid was finally able to look Gideon in the eye and absorb the acceptance in the older mans features. "Lets find out what we can about this un-sub."

Val watched from where she lay on the floor next to Morgan. Her head hurt like hell, and her vision kept going double. Her left hand was still under the bed grasping the gun Dr. Stone had given her a few weeks ago. He had said he was nervous about her living alone until they were able to move in together and he could protect her. She had understood why, but was still weary around the weapon, now she clung to it. Gently with her free hand she touched the back of her head, she probed the rather impressive bump that was already forming and when she examined her hand it was dripping blood. She fought a quick nasty internal battle with her self not to be sick, she had once heard that nurses only got excited at the sight of blood when it was their own, she fully agreed with that statement.

"Who are you to say that she needs protection?" Morgan asked.

He took the few steps forward that had separated him from Morgan, so that the un-sub was now towering over the FBI agent. "Who am I? I am the love of her life! I am her knight in shinning armor! I am everything she has ever wanted, and you, you're disposable." In one slashing gesture the un-sub brought the scalpel at Morgan at a slashing angle. The agent spun at the last moment and took the slice across his left shoulder and bicep instead of across the throat.

Val stared for a moment as her brain swam around her skull before her instincts kicked in. In a flash she went from dazed to focused. She left the gun under the bed and pushed the un-sub away from where Morgan had fallen to assess his wounds.

"Leave him, you don't need him." The un-sub pulled at her arm, Val pulled away from him and ripped Morgan's shirt wide open to expose the wound. After a moment she was on her feet and moving towards the bathroom. The un-sub grabbed her arm hard enough to bruise. Val looked pointedly at his hand then in his eyes. "Let him die, he is nothing to you."

She glared at him, "Let me do my job and save his life. I will not let him die in my room when I can help him." With a strong yank she was free and in the bath room. Under the sink she kept a well-stocked first aid kit. In seconds she was back to Morgan's side, assisting him to a laying position. She had gauze on his chest and arm and was applying pressure. With her knee she pushed his arm until it was stretched out and his left hand was under the bed.

"Leave him Val, you don't need him, he is nothing to you." The un-sub said, he was now pacing on the other side of the bed, scalpel still in hand, and visibly agitated. "What are you doing, why are you doing that? Leave him alone!"

Ignoring him Val focused on Morgan. She stared at his face until she caught his eye, then she pointedly looked in the direction of the bed. Morgan shook his head slightly; she nudged his arm again with her knee then focused on the wound. It was shallower then she had originally thought, but through muscles and bleeding freely. Thankfully he had missed the subclavian artery and the common carotid artery. Grabbing an ace bandage from her kit she used it to hold the gauze in place on his bicep and keep pressure, now she only had to focus on his chest wound.

The un-sub grabbed her left arm and flung her on the bed. "I said to leave him!" he pinned her to the bed, her arms locked above her head with one hand the other hand held the scalpel to her throat. "He is nothing to you, and I am everything! I am the one you will love for the rest of your life! Not him! Not Dr. Stone! Not even those people at your work who didn't appreciate you! I am everything for you!"

"You're hurting me." Val whimpered as she tried to push him off.

Morgan's hand finally closed on what Val had hoped he would find. He didn't know the make or the model, all he could do was hope it was loaded.

Hotch approached Gideon and Reid hoping to hear good news, but knew better when he saw their grim faces. "Anything new?"

Gideon shook his head, "He was able to tell us that Val and him are both in the room with the un-sub, but we haven't heard anything from him in a few minuets."

"Well we are about to run out of time, SWAT is getting ready to move in." Hotch said with a headshake.

Prentice frowned, "If they are in the room with the un-sub and SWAT comes in, they could get caught in the cross fire. We can't take that chance."

"We may not have a choice." Hotch said angrily. "They will see that sudden lack of communications as our agent is disarmed and defenseless. If we cant give them a reason why to hold off, they will go in."

JJ crossed her arms and shook her head; "the reason is that if they go in they would put a FBI agent in danger. That's one hell of a reason."

"To us it is, to them it is an acceptable chance if it means closing this case." Gideon said with a shrug.

"Lets see if we can buy ourselves just a few more minuets, maybe we can regain communications with Morgan." Reid said.

Val's mind was racing, she couldn't move her arms more then a wiggle, and the rest of her body was successfully pinned. Her thoughts went back to her psych rotation in school, when to play, when to reorient. Now was not the time to try to get this man focused on what was going on. Now would be a good time to delay him until….what? Morgan was still bleeding, she didn't know where Reid was or if he was safe or dead, and her head was throbbing so hard she was sure everyone in the room could hear it. Fighting back tears she forced herself for the first time to look at the man on top of her.

Recognition was slow, but her mind finally remembered the face above her, Mr. Lawrence, her neighbor. She just stared at him blankly for a moment.

"Sometimes love hurts my dear, but you should know that this is just a temporary thing, before long our souls will be together in eternity." Mr. Lawrence said as he leaned closer to her. His lips brushed the bridge of her nose, then her forehead.

Choosing her words carefully Val finally said, "Eternity can wait. But the pain hurts now, please end my pain. Please let me go, please let me help him. If he dies here he will be with us in eternity, and we will never truly be alone."

Morgan shifted his weight and got a better hold of the gun, he was still bleeding from the wound on his chest, the gauze was saturated all the way through with blood. He shifted again and when he didn't draw attention from the un-sub he moved again, the hand holding the gun was now barley concealed by the bed.

"Please let me help him. Please don't let him die here, Mr. Lawrence." Val begged.

Mr. Lawrence paused, then kissed her on the lips. Val closed her eyes and forced herself to remain still. She couldn't pull back, couldn't refuse him, if she was going to play along it had to be all the way. When she didn't fight, he let go of her arms, but didn't get off her. "Save him, then our eternity can begin." He didn't move for a moment, just stared at her, "but try anything, and both of you will die. Do you understand my love?" he watched her until she nodded, then kissed her lips again before finally letting her up.

Val remained where she was for a moment until he was across the room before she moved to the edge of the bed on the side Morgan was on. Morgan was still on his back, but he now had a good grip on the gun. She moved fast, applying more gauze to the soaked ones, she didn't want to risk removing them incase there was any clotting going on underneath the saturated gauze, if she were to remove it the bleeding would begin again.

A world of thoughts passed through Val's mind as she looked Morgan in the eye, there was so much she needed to tell him, and yet she didn't dare so much as whisper. Her head hurt so badly, she wanted to go to sleep, why couldn't she go to sleep?

Morgan noticed the subtle change in Val, something was wrong with her; her movements were slowing and becoming choppy. He had to end this fast. "Eternity is a long time, are you sure you want to spend it with her? I mean how well do you really know her? She can be a pain in the ass at times. Her cooking is ok, but she could stand to lose a few pounds."

The un-sub turned to face them, all he could see of Morgan was the lower half of his body, the top half was obscured from view by the bed. "You dare to insult the woman who is trying to save your life? Your as bad as those people that worked at the hospital!"

Faking a harsh laugh Morgan continued, "I am telling you the truth, hell I probably know more about Val then you do, I have sure as hell spent a lot more time with her recently then you have."

Val stared at Morgan, not able to hide the hurt in her eyes at his words. She was so very sleepy, and everything was moving so fast. Her head ached, and she wanted to lye down. Why was everyone around her so angry?

"That woman is the love of my life! You don't deserve to know her!" The un-sub moved to the other side of the bed with two long strides and was now standing over Morgan. Val didn't look up; she just kept her hands pressed to Morgan's chest, her back to the un-sub. She was now seeing small spots of color, but when she tried to look more closely at one, it would disappear.

In one smooth movement Morgan pulled Val to his right side and raised his left arm with the gun pointed at the un-sub. "Drop the scalpel." He said in a demanding tone. He continued to pull Val so that she was behind him as he sat up. He ignored her attempts to keep pressure to the wound on his chest, and kept his eyes locked on the man before him.

"You think I am afraid of death? You think I am afraid of you? Give me Val and we will leave. And you can continue your miserable little life." The un-sub kept a firm grip on the scalpel, and reached for Val with the other hand. "Please give her to me, she is nothing to you, and the world to me."

Morgan kept his eyes and gun focused on the un-sub. He wasn't left handed, and his left arm hurt from the cut going across the bicep, but his hand was steady. "She's a friend, and right now she needs _my_ protection."

The un-sub was outraged, "Your protection! You are not worthy of protecting her!" He lunged scalpel raised.

Morgan fired once, then again, and the un-sub stumbled backwards, his hand clutching the wound in his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground.

With a heavy sigh, Morgan leaned backwards, Val was behind him, she cushioned his back with her self and reached around him to put pressure on the cut on his chest that was bleeding again.

They could hear noise in the house, but neither of them made a move to get up or even move as the FBI agents and SWAT team made their way to Val's bedroom.

Morgan tilted his head back to look at Val, "Who was he?"

She was silent for a moment and when she did speak her voice sounded strained and distant, "Mr. Lawrence, he's my neighbor."

The bedroom door was kicked open and people flooded into the room. Everything went by in a daze for Val, some men came and took Morgan from her, then other paramedics were helping her from the room and into an ambulance. Everyone kept telling her not to go to sleep, but that was the one thing that she wanted so badly. The circle of faces above and around her swam like paint in water. The voices that rose and fell around her became the white noise that lulled her to sleep.

Reid sat on the bench seat in the ambulance staring at Morgan. "I shouldn't have left you." The remorse he felt was clogging his throat so it sounded barley above a whisper.

Shaking his head Morgan answered, "if you hadn't gone out to give them coffee, we may have never known that he was in the house, he could have taken her and we would have been in the next room. "In a way, you wanting to give coffee to those cops, saved Val's life."

With a grim smile Reid commented back, "And in a very real way she saved yours. The paramedics said that if she hadn't kept pressure on your wounds, you would have bled out."

Morgan leaned back on the gurney and closed his eyes, "Any word on how she is?"

"They rushed her to the hospital, said she lost a lot of blood from the cut on the back of her head, and they were fairly sure she had a concussion, we will be updated as soon as anything changes." Reid patted the blanket by Morgan's hand without quite touching him. "You saved her life."

"No." Morgan said keeping his eyes closed, "we saved each other."

****************************************************************

JJ smiled at Reid and Morgan in passing as she regrouped with Hotch, Gideon and Prentiss a few yards away.

"Any idea how he got in the house?" Gideon asked as way of greeting.

"The SWAT team found an open window in Val's office, that's most likely how he found the note he left for us at the last crime scene. All he had to do was hop the fence and he was in her yard, the office window opens up to Val's garden." JJ answered with a shrug of the shoulders.

Hotch crossed his arms and sighed, "So he waited until the outside unit that had a view of Val's backyard was half asleep, killed them, went back to his house, hoped the fence, and was in the house while Morgan and Reid were in the front room."

"How did he know how to cut up the bodies the way he did?" JJ asked with a slight frown. Even after so few hours of sleep, and the early hour, she still managed to look beautiful.

Hotch answered, "It was in one of the files that Garcia sent over to us last night, he used to work as a corner, that's how he knew the anatomy so well, but he left that job and changed his last name a few times, so we didn't make the connection."

"Would they have even known he was in the house if Morgan hadn't checked on her when he did?" Prentiss asked no on in particular.

Gideon and Hotch exchanged a meaningful look before Gideon answered. "If Morgan had checked on her five minutes later, we would be looking for her corpse right now, not seeing her off to the hospital for a head injury."

The silence that followed that announcement was broke by the sound if ambulance sirens piercing the predawn light. As one the group followed the progression of the ambulance carrying Morgan, Reid had opted to go with him for support.

Prentiss was the one to break the silence, "Did we ever find out what Dr. Stone gave Val as a gift?"

JJ smiled at her friend and crossed her arms, "The gun. He wanted her to have a way to protect herself."

"Which is exactly what it did in the end." Hotch commented.

"That and an FBI agent who has one hell of a good shot with his left hand." Prentiss said with a smile.

The team stayed in the area for a few more days to help with the paper work, and until Morgan was given the go-ahead to fly with his stitches. In that time Val was deemed stable enough to be released from the hospital. But she didn't go home, instead she stayed at a friend's house while the police cleaned out her house of all her personal belongings, and she put the place on the market. She didn't want to go back there, even to say good-bye.

Morgan and Reid stopped at the place she was staying on their way to the airport. It was awkward at first, for her to talk to the men who had protected her, but once she was able to relax she learned something. Morgan had spoken the truth, somewhere in the chaos of that night; Morgan and Val had become friends. She was able to relax and laugh, and knew that the bond between them would last, and the understanding that she shared with Reid warmed her. Her life had been turned inside out, but at least she knew she wasn't alone.

They boarded the plane and said good-bye to the sunshine of California. The weather in DC was definitely not as mild as it was right then on the west coast. Reid sat comfortably at the small table and pulled out his chessboard. Looking up he summed up his potential competition. Gideon was reading a book, JJ and Prentice were chatting in the galley, Morgan was fixing a cup of coffee and Hotch was flipping through a case file.

"Anyone up for a game to pass the time?" Reid asked hopefully to the plane full of agents.

No one said anything for several moments then Hotch sat down opposite of Reid and began placing the black pieces on their appointed squares.

Reid frowned, "I didn't realized that you played chess, I never saw you play before."

With a grim look Hotch placed the last pawn and looked up, "there is a reason why Gideon wont let me play with him anymore."

Casting a quick glance at the now smiling Gideon, Reid looked back to Hotch and paled a little, "There is?"

Nodding slowly Hotch's smile grew, he didn't say anything, he didn't need to. Intimidation was Hotch's best piece to play and he knew how to play it to well.


End file.
